City of Dragons
by DiscordantSymphony
Summary: In an endless waste there was a city, a ruined city that had been visited by horror. No one could remember it's name, it had been so very long since it had one. But one day visitors came to the city, and gave it a name. But soon it would have a different one, soon it would be the heart of an empire. Probably going to be a slow burn.
1. Chapter 1

City of Dragons

Chapter One.

The sun hanging high above the Red Waste was merciless as it beat down on the tiny Khalasar as it made it's way across the red sands, Daenerys Targaryen, the stormborn and the mother of dragons and Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, trueborn daughter of King Aerys Targaryen, second of his name and Queen Rhaella Targaryen, the true heir to the iron throne and Queen of the Andels, the First men and the Rhyonar, would give just about anything for a skin full of water, of clean, fresh water at any rate. The thought of the foul water in her skin nearly made her retch.

Well, anything except her dragons. There was nothing she wanted that was worth them, though she could not deny that if someone was to offer her a skin for her dragons she could not say that she would not be tempted. She turned her thoughts away from that and instead simply kept moving forward, if she looked back then she was lost.

"Khaleesi." Irri's meek voice made Daenerys turn around to face and when she looked into the younger girl's brown eyes she felt terrible for bringing her into this, poor Irri had been so dutiful to her and had only followed her because she was sworn to her. Daenerys wondered if she had lead the poor girl to her death, she had all ready lead poor Doerah to her death. She had sat by her side and tended to her as best she could but it hadn't been enough and she had died, she had called out to someone that Daenerys hadn't been able to see until she had just slipped away.

When she had finally slipped away it took all Daenerys had not to sit and weep for her, but she knew that she couldn't. Her people were depending on her, she had decided that she would be there strength and they could not see her weep. They would not see her weep, she had ordered that trees had been cut down and a funeral pyre arranged for her. Doerah had not been Dothraki but she would not leave her for the sands to bury or the vultures to eat and there was no other way to be rid of her body.

She told herself that Doerah had been a part of Drogo's Khalasar and was thus Dothraki enough but Daenerys still felt hollow about doing this to her, the Dothraki believed that when you died you would go to the Night Lands and ride for eternity, that every single star in the sky was a horse and it's rider. Doerah had hated riding though she had never been so foolish to say so out loud. Riding forever would have been hell for her. They could not even slaughter a horse to burn with her as they had done when the first deaths had begun, they weren't enough left to spare.

Even her poor silver seemed to becoming more and more gaunt, she couldn't not place value on it more than any other house but it had been the first gift that Khal Drogo, her Sun and Stars, had ever given her. She did not wish to lose her, and so she had given the beautiful mare some of her own food even though even she could see the folly in that. She had little enough as it was.

"What is it Irri?" Daenerys asked as she stepped towards the girl, trying not to scare her. The girl had seemed more and more wary of her lately, she had sworn herself to her when she had seen her dragons but she had seemed terrified of them. They weren't large enough to harm her yet but if they began to grow then they could, the Black Dread had been big enough to cast whole towns in shadow and swallow mammoths whole.

"Another is fallen Khaleesi, an old man though not as old as the first. What shall we do, there are no trees here to burn." And that seemed to cause the girl even more upset, there had been trees earlier in the Red Waste, though no fruit had been born on any of their branches. But the deeper they went into the wastes even those withered husks had disappeared and all they were left with was dry red ground and few pools of stagnant brown water that smelt of sulphur. The little wood that remained to them had to be used for fires to boil the water, to make it as clean as possible or none of them would have any chance of seeing the end of this endless place.

"We have to leave him Irri, there isn't another choice." The girl nodded although it was clear that it had saddened her before she turned and made her way to tell one of the riders what was to be done. They had ridden, those that could, and walked for what seemed like a lifetime and it was clear to Dany that she had been pushing them too hard. But what other choice did they have? They could not stay here.

"Blood of my Blood." She spoke to Aggo who was walking next to her, leading his horse by it's reins and with the great Dragonbone bow that she had gifted to him slung over his shoulder. "Ride along all the horde," She felt odd saying the word as her "Horde." Had less than a hundred people in it now, hardly the forty thousand that had been her sun and stars horde, but she did not know what else to call it. "Tell them we are to stop here and we are to gather what strength that we can, tell them to drink from the skins but not too much. And tell Jorah Mormont that I need to speak to him."

"It will be as you say, Khaleesi." And with that Aggo climbed on to his stallion with an ease that Dany had to admit that she envied, even with the months and the months she had spent with the Dothraki she had not yet mastered mounting and dismounting a horse in such way. It marked her as an outsider, and that did not sit well with her. Aggo was soon gone and Daenerys sat down into the red sands, gazing off into the distance as she did so. There seemed to be no end to it and not for the first, Daenerys wondered if she hadn't made a terrible mistake. But it was too late to turn back now, they wouldn't survive the trek and even if they did the Khalasars that had formed when her sun and stars had been lost to her would be waiting for them.

If she looked back she was lost.

Behind her she could hear her Khalasar coming to a halt and a little while after that she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her, she turned and saw Ser Jorah standing there. Her poor bear looked more uncomfortable than the rest of them as he wore heavier clothing and he was a hairy man, even now she could see curly black hair just poking over the top of his shirt. "My queen, you summoned me?"

"Yes, Ser Jorah. Sit with me for a while, would you?" Dany said as she unslung her skin from her side and handed it over for him to take the first drink from it, he took it gently from her hands, as if she had offered him a rare gem that would shatter into a thousand pieces should it hit the ground. He took a deep drink, and it was clear to her that he was trying his hardest not to shudder at the taste and handed it back to her.

Daenerys took a sip from the skin and unlike her bear did not have his control and thus shuddered at the taste as well, it was better than nothing but earlier this skin had been full of sweet wine that had tasted like a crisp summer day and before that it had been filled with fermented mare's milk, she had never truly liked the drink as it always made her head spin but now she would drink all it down in a heartbeat instead of having to drink this foul water that tasted like it could kill her and made her stomach turn.

"Does it end, Ser Jorah? It does not seem too." She turned her gaze back to the endless wastes, her outriders were still out there. Looking for anything that they could find, an oasis perhaps? Even a city but so far they had found nothing, only the stagnant pools. They had never been gone this long before, it did not sit well with her.

"It does, my Queen. I have never been this far east before in my life but I have seen maps and it does end, sooner or later we will see the end of this. I promise you that." Daenerys smiled at his words although she couldn't find it in herself to believe him, and a small part of her suggested that neither did he but her bear knight seemed pleased to see her smile. "There is a port city, Port Yhos, if I remember correctly. I am not sure how far we are from it but if we can get there then we can take ship."

 _"And where would we go my knight? I can not go back to Westeros, I have no army and of what I do have I have only four warriors, Aggo, Jhogo, Rakharo and You. And my dragons are too small to fight, when they are grown they could burn the world to ashes. Would you have me sail to Yi Ti and forget my throne, my birth right? I can not do that my sweet bear. I won't."_ Dany was determined in that, she would not run. She had been running and hiding from the Usurper her entire life. Not any more.

Suddenly there was the sound of hooves and Dany scrambled to her feet and she could not stop herself from smiling when she saw her outriders, all five of them. Even if they did not have good news to share, she found that she did not care. She was simply glad to see them alive and whole and returned to her. "What news have you?"

"A city Khaleesi! As pale as the moon and as lovely as a maid!" The oldest of the outrider's cried with a smile on his face, from behind him he threw a large bag at Dany's feet. "We explored it a little, we found figs!" He sounded so pleased at his discovery that Dany could not help herself but let out a giggle, though she soon chastised herself for that. She was a queen, a Khaleesi, not a little girl. Not any more.

Dany knelt and pulled open the sack and indeed there were figs inside, she could not help herself. She popped a handful of them into her mouth and revels in the taste for the moment before she handed the bag over to Ser Jorah, who held it like it weighed nothing, and ordered him to hand the figs out to the hoard. Once all the figs were gone, and it did not take long for that to happen, she turned to her outriders and gave the command. "Show us to this city."

The sun did not move much across the sky as they rode and finally came across the city, it was beautiful with walls as pale as milk although it was clear that the walls had been crumbling for a while. Enemies had come to the city, the gates were broken open and Dany wondered what had happened to it. Perhaps it had been sacked by a Khalasar that had taken it for the riches hidden within.

As they rode through the broken gate, Irri gasped and pointed at a skull that was lying in the sand. "We should not be here Khaleesi! This is a dead place, a place of bones and ghosts. We should not be here."

"Don't be silly Irri, would you like to go back outside?" Irri said nothing after that and they continued to ride through the crumbling streets of the city, some of buildings were broken but none of the cleanly. The ruins remaindered her of teeth, or jagged bones.

The city of bones, Vaes Tolorro. She nearly laughed at the name she gave it.

After a little more riding they came across a well in the middle of a courtyard that stood in front of a large, and ruined, manse. The water was cool and fresh and clear and for what seemed like hours they drank from the well. Her bloodriders and Ser Jorah she sent to search and they returned with food, more figs but there were some peaches as well. Ser Jorah handed her a peach and while it was overripe when she bit into it, it was so sweet and full of juice that she very nearly cried.

Before too long the night had come, while the red wastes could be cruel during the day the night offered little respite. They were cold nights to be certain, far too cold and they had lost people to the nights before. Thankfully they did not need to search long as they soon found another manse, this one had a well as well with devilgrass sprouting around and the manse itself had been spared the worst of the sack. It seemed to swallow her Khalasar, the people she had seen every day for so long disappeared but it did not sadden her as they each hid in a dozen different rooms, their laughter made her smile. This had been the happiest day she had in far too long a time.

She, Irri and Jhiqui all shared a room with a bed so large that it must have belonged to whoever had owned the manse before, Jhiqui seemed to share her fellow handmaiden's doubt about the place but as soon as the sky turned dark and the chill began to set in both girls crawled into the bed at either side of Daenerys and wrapped their arms around her, warming her and themselves.

Dany sighed as she closed her eyes, there would be much to do in the morning, the gates would need to be fixed for a start but with the well and the fig trees they could rest here and grow strong again.

This could be a good place.

End of Chapter One.

* * *

 **So, when I first read ACOK I always wondered what would happen if Daenerys had decided to stay in Vaes Tolorro instead of leaving for Quarth, this story is me answering that question for myself. Obviously this is the first chapter and the diffrences haven't really come into play yet but give it time and we will get there.**

 **Please leave a review, a follow and favourite if you enjoyed.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345.**


	2. Chapter 2

City of Dragons

Chapter Two.

Dany brushed her fingers through the silver stubble that was all that was left of her hair, it had all been burnt away when she had stepped into the fire of her sun and stars pyre, the pyre which had brought her dragons into life at the cost of her son, her Khal and her love.

She had been using the pelt of the great white lion of the Dothraki Sea, the Hrakka, to cover her bald head. But in the heat of the Red Waste had made it almost unbearable to wear, though the thought of taking it off was almost as unbearable. It had been the last gift that her Sun and Stars had ever given to her, she would be as upset if something happened to it as if something were to happen to her silver.

But the heat had been unbearable when the sun had risen on the pale city once again so she had no choice but to take the skin off and hand it over to Irri, it felt strange for her Khalasar to see her like this, she didn't like it. She was a queen, a Khaleesi, when they looked at her though a part of her that sounded far too much like Viserys said that all they saw was a regular woman, not even that, a little girl pretending to be a queen.

No woman had ever lead a Khalasar, not once in the entire history of the Dothraki. She would never be safe so long as she lead them, when word reached the other khalasars on the Great Grass Sea then some would come after her, the kinder ones would drag her back to Vaes Dothrak so she could take her place among the crones of the Dosh Khaleen.

The ones who were not kind would kill her for daring to challenge the way that things had always been and the cruel Khals...

Her thoughts turned back to poor Eroeh, a dark haired and black eyed girl of the Lamb People of Lhazar who she had claimed as a slave in order to protect her from being taken by the members of Drogo's Khalasar, along with dozens of other women from the village that the Khalasar had burned and raided. It hadn't been enough to save her, the poor girl had still been raped when Drogo had fallen ill and fell from his horse and a dozen khals had been born that day.

And it was all because of another member of that village, the Godswife and Maegi Mirri Maz Dur, had tricked her into thinking that she would help her Sun and Stars after he had been wounded. She didn't blame her for hating him, if she had been a member of that village then she would want vengeance as well.

But she hadn't been, she had been Drogo's Khaleesi and the fire that had burned inside of her when she realised her betrayal, it burned brighter than any star. Any funeral pyre. She had killed her child, her babe while he had still been in her womb. All her hope had been wrapped up into their babe, her sweet Rhaego who had kicked as fiercely as a stallion while he grew inside of her.

He had been innocent of any wrong. His father's crimes hadn't been his.

But he would have been the Stallion who mounted the world, would burn cities to the ground and his horde would have trampled nations into dust. How many would he have killed? How many mothers would have to mourn their sons? How many would be taken into slavery? How many girls would be just like Eroeh, would her son's Khaleesi have been like her and been forced to take them as slaves to protect them or would she have turned a blind eye to all the suffering around her.

Had all that hurt and suffering been avoided by the death of her babe? Perhaps, but it hurt her to think of that. He had been hers, it had not been for Mirri Maz Dur to deal out her judgement on to him. She had murdered him just as much as she had murdered her Sun and Stars.

But had she? She had made a salve for the wound and Drogo had complained that it had burned his skin before he had ripped it off and he had the Eunuchs who knew the secrets of healing made him a soothing poultice. It was only after that his wound had worsened and he had weakened, at the time she had been so sure that it had been the godswife who had done it.

But Mirri had said that fire cleansed, and Dany knew the truth of that well enough. The eunuchs only ever used fire to clean out wounds, they had even insisted on keeping the salve that the Maegi had made for him on but her Sun and Stars had refused them and only after that had he truly began to weaken.

It was the Stallion that would mount the world that Mirri Maz Dur had wanted to stop, not Drogo. Dany doubted that Mirri did not want revenge but after Dany had taken her to protect her she had not once looked at Drogo aside from when she had been healing him. Drogo was simply something in the way of her goal, Drogo would never have let anyone harm her or their son.

She had tried to convince herself every night that what she had done had been right, it was justice. She had taken her babe's life, regardless of anything else. She had tricked her into thinking that she could save Drogo and all that it would take would be a horse. It had cost her so much more than that and in the end the exchange had not at all been worth it.

She had paid for life and it was life that she had bought, but life wasn't enough. Drogo breathed and eat and drank if it was placed into his mouth and would go where you lead him but that was that. He was dead long before she had placed him on the funeral pyre, before she had smothered the life out of him. It was a kindness, in a way.

That was what she liked to tell herself, at any rate.

She also liked to remind herself that what had done had been right, whenever she heard Mirri Maz Dur screaming in her dreams, she had tried to sing. To the Great Shepherd that the Lhazareen worshiped as their god, she honestly believed that her god would protect her. That he would save her from the flames of the funeral pyre.

He didn't. And her song had turned to screams. And from her screams, came her dragons. It had all seemed so very easy back then, so very simple. But it wasn't, she wasn't sure if she would change her mind about what she had done to Mirri Maz Dur, if for nothing else then for the simple reason that the Dothraki respected strength more than anything else, if she had tried to let the Maegi live then her bloodriders would have more than likely killed her and then dragged Daenerys back to Vaes Dothrak.

Her life was over, even she wanted to spare her. She couldn't, at least that was what she said when the old words about it being justice grew tiresome of repeating. A different thought of that day came to her, sometimes they weren't about Mirri Maz Dur, sometimes they were about Drogo and how about just before she pressed the pillow to his face she had thought that she had saw some awareness in his eyes and his fingers twitching.

Other times it was about the things she had seen in the fire that night, fearsome visions and beautiful ones as well and yet like a dream it was so hard to remember what she had actually seen. That night was constantly in her thoughts, it would never leave. The girl she had been had died in those fires, and the queen she was now had been born from them.

And what a queen she was, stumbling through deserts of red sand half a world away from her throne. A throne she had never even laid her eyes upon. Viserys had described it to her, once or twice through their years of begging for scraps to keep them alive and all the kings who had sat upon it. At times it had seemed that had given him more than any food ever did. That was all he needed to live on.

Dany had never dreamed about the throne, not like Viserys had done. Her dreams were different, she had dreamt about her mother at least once or twice. In her dreams she was the most beautiful woman in the world, her eyes were gentle and full of kindness and she gave gold to beggars and at Tourneys hundreds upon hundreds of knights would compete for her favour, for her honour or even just to bring a smile to her face.

Other times she dreamt she was back in Bravos, in the house with the red door with kind old Ser Willem Darry and the lemon tree outside of her window. Viserys had always hated it there, had called it little more than a hovel that was not fit for a prince and princess of the seven kingdoms but Dany had always loved it, more than anywhere else. Far more than any castle or manse. She had always wanted to stay there, when she had been little being a princess was just a game.

And still other times she had dreamt she was a dragon, flying all the way across every sea and mountain. All the world looking so very small below her as her great wings caste dark shadows. She loved those dreams the best, the freedom it gave her. The only freedom that she ever seemed to have.

But still, she could not sleep the rest of her life away and dreams faded in the morning light. Shaking her head to clear away her thoughts she stood to her feet and swallowed some water from the skin at her side and once again she had to revel in how much joy such a simple thing like clear water brought to her.

It was hardly the coldest water in the world, it was tepid at best, but it was clear as the surface of a pond and it did not make any of them ill to drink it and thus in her mind was a significant improvement to the foul brown pools they had found out in the red wastes.

There were more wells scattered around the pale city and all the water from them was just as clear, it made her wonder if there was more clean water under the desert just waiting to be tapped. Maybe her khalasar could dig for it, they could make more wells but along with that they could use the water to feed any plants.

Perhaps they could make the entire desert bloom.

It was a nice thought but she realised that she was getting ahead of herself, aside from the fact that her khalasar was still to weak from their journey through the Red Waste and to do such a thing would require younger and stronger men than she had, she wasn't even sure if they even had any seeds and just because there could be water under the red sands doesn't mean that anything planted would grow.

"Come, let us go and see what my bloodriders have found." She spoke to Irri and Jhiqui as she stood, The city wasn't as large as any of the nine free cities she had spent any time in but there were still many crooks and crannies which still needed to be searched, many of the smaller houses still needed to be searched as did most of the larger ones as her Khalasar had spent the first night in the city of bones in one manse, the largest of all of them that were still standing at any rate.

It didn't take them long to find her bloodriders, along with a large amount of her Khalasar, searching in and around a large manse for anything that could be useful. Daenerys spied Aggo strolling out of the manse with a large statue that was made out of gold and carved into the shape of an animal that Daenerys did not recognise but she could safely say that she did not want to see the real one.

Jhogo and Rakharo were standing in front of a group of young boys, the oldest just old enough to grow fuzz on their lips and the youngest barely able to hold up an Arakh. Her three bloodriders and Ser Jorah were her only true warriors, she had a few outriders but they were not mean to fight only to scout and she had one old Jaqqa Rhan, a mercy man, but they weren't meant to fight either.

If she wanted her Khalasar to survive and this city to be protected then she would need warriors, the problem was that as Jorah had explained to her the Dothraki were never meant to guard cities, they were never meant to fight in cities at all. The Dothraki had no armour, preferring the speed that the lack of armour granted to them, and they spent their entire lives fighting from horseback.

They shot their arrows from their horses, they used their swords on horse back and they used their whips to corral their slaves from horseback. They weren't comfortable fighting on foot, they certainly could but they weren't as effective on foot. Jorah had told her that the Dothraki were a restless people and Daenerys had seen it first hand when she had been Drogo's Khaleesi.

Asking Dothraki to guard a city was as alien a concept to them as her being married to Khal had been to her when she had still been in Pentos. If it weren't for the fact that they had to regain their strength from their long trek then they would more than likely be insisting that they leave the city. But they couldn't, not yet at the very least.

She glanced around the small courtyard and she noticed that there was no sign of Ser Jorah anywhere to be seen, she turned with a frown from the courtyard and left it with Irri and Jhiqui trailing behind her. It took them close to an hour to find her knight, at least she thought it was an hour due to how far the sun had moved across the sky.

He was standing near the gates of the city with several older men of the Khalasar, gazing upon the broken gates and speaking among themselves about how they might try and fix them. Daenerys wasn't sure if the Dothraki would be of much help in this regard, fixing city gates wasn't often a problem that they would be faced with. More often than not they spent their time breaking them down.

Daenerys almost hadn't noticed that Jorah did not have his shirt on, revealing achest that was built like a barrel and covered with a thick mat of black hair. She couldn't blame him for wanting to remove his shirt, it was beyond hot and she would love nothing more than to walk around without this painted vest on.

"Your grace!" Jorah called out happily as he finally noticed her, walking away from the men and leaving them to examine the gates. "Forgive me, I did not see you. Is there something that you need?" He asked with a smile before he seemed to notice that he was shirtless and started to blush as he rubbed at the back of his head. "Forgive the state of me your grace, but the heat has been rather unbearable."

"There is nothing that I need to forgive Ser Jorah, do not concern yourself." Daenerys said with a smile of her own and Ser Jorah nodded, all though he seemed glad that she was not angry with him. "How comes the gates? Can we fix them? If we are attack then we're going to need them."

"Well, I truly doubt that anyone actually knows that we are here your grace, and this city is dead so I don't think that we are in much danger of anyone stumbling upon us. Still, you are wise to make sure that the gates are repaired. As to if we can repair them..." Jorah let out a heavy sigh before he turned to face her. "My queen, might I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Do you truly mean for us to stay here? We are far away from any ports my queen. If you truly wish to return to Westeros and take your father's throne then we must find a place for us to take ship. I think that Port Yhos is still our best bet as I know where it is...vaguely. But I am also aware of another city called Qarth which is also by the sea, although I am not as sure where it is."

"Even if we could find either of these places my sweet bear, what do we do then? We have no coin to buy passage on any ship. I also doubt that we will find any ships willing to take the both of us and the rest of the Dothraki and all of their horses." Dany couldn't stop herself from biting her bottom lip after she had finished speaking, it had not occurred to her before now really how hard it would be for her to get back to Westeros with the Dothraki in tow.

It wasn't just a matter of finding enough ships to take them back, though that would be as difficult as to be impossible, no Dothraki had ever crossed the narrow sea, they had never crossed any body of water. They called any sea the Poison Water, their horses could not drink it and thus they did not trust it and they would not cross it.

"I do not think that we would find ships for them your Grace, but I do have some coin on me. Enough to charter a ship for the both of us to take us back to Pentos, from there we can make a plan on what to do." Daenerys didn't hear herself gasp as her ears were filled by the sound of Irri gasping and Daenerys turned around to look at her and Jhiqui.

Irri stared at her with her amber eyes blown wide, not wanting to believe that she would abandon them. Jhiqui seemed more defiant, her arms crossed as she levelled a heavy glare on to Ser Jorah, seeming so very fierce even though she was smaller than Daenerys was.

They honestly thought that she was going to abandon them, she supposed it made sense in a way. She had no memories of the seven kingdoms nor did she speak of them often but Viserys always had, had spoke of their beauty and their glory and how they would return there one day soon, when he had his army.

It only made sense that they would think that she would want the same, and she did want the same. But she wouldn't abandoned them. Irri and Jhiqui were the closest thing that she had ever had to sisters and Aggo, Jhogo and Rakharo were blood of her blood, she wouldn't leave them.

It was her that had brought them through the Red Waste, it was because of her that they had lost friends and loved ones. She owed them all a debt, she had a duty to them.

And so, she turned to face Ser Jorah and looked into his eyes with an impassive face. She could already tell that he would try and change her mind. "I thank you for your honest advice Ser Jorah, as I will always require it. But this is my Khalasar, the blood of my blood. I will not abandoned them."

Ser Jorah did not seem pleased with her decision and looked like he was about to say something else about it but Daenerys glared at him to make it clear that she had said her final word on the subject. Her bear let out a sigh before turning to look back at the gates, one was broken in half while the other was hanging from it's hinges.

Dozens of arrow shafts were deeply embedded into the wood of the doors and the wood had clearly been burned black in some places. Not for the first time Daenerys wondered exactly what had happened here, she did not even know this city's true name or how it had met it's end.

Whatever had happened here had not happened all that long ago, in many of the houses they had found that most of the food had rotted but was still recognisable as food and fruit was still growing on the trees. It had been a great worry since they had found this city, that whoever had sacked the city might come back.

She was so busy in her thoughts that she almost didn't hear Ser Jorah speaking to her. "We would need good wood to replace those doors, your grace. There are few trees in the Red Waste, and we would need iron to reinforce them if they were to hold up to a decent siege. None of which we have."

Daenerys sighed as she crossed her arms and glanced at the gates for a few moments as she tried to think, it was true that there were not many trees out in the Red Waste and the few they had seen did not seem the highest of quality to her. There were fig trees inside the city but Dany didn't think that there would be enough wood to even fix one of the large doors if they used the wood of all the fig trees.

And as it stood the fig trees were the only source of food that they had at the moment, they had the horses as well but they needed them to ride and they only had so many horses that they could use.

"Are there any other cities near us? Perhaps we could find something useful or if there are people inside we could perhaps set up a trade of some sort?" Even as the words left her mouth she was struck by the stupidity of them, what did they have to trade? Figs and Horses?

"We can arrange the outriders to scout if that is your wish your grace." Daenerys was quiet for a few moments as she did not relish sending her people back out into the waste again but she also knew that it had to be done.

She nodded her head once. "Yes, gather them Ser Jorah. I have to see to something, I will be back in a moment." And with that she turned her around and walked away, Irri and Jhiqui her silent shadows as always, before too long they arrived back at the manse where they had been before they had started to look for Ser Jorah and with a shout she called her bloodriders to her.

"Jhogo, Aggo, Rakharo, I have a task for the tree of you. Ser Jorah is calling together the outriders and I will soon send them out to search the waste for anything that might be of use, any cities that we might go to. It is my wish that you go with them, to help better the search."

All three men stared at her for a few moments, none of them blinking. A part of her knew this was coming but she had hoped that she would be able to avoid it.

It was Aggo, the oldest of her three bloodriders that she had granted the dragonbone bow and the one that she was the least close to that finally spoke out. "Khalessi, we are blood of your blood. Our place is at your side, to guard your back and to kill your enemies."

"It is known." Irri said from behind Daenerys and Jhiqui, Aggo, Jhogo and Rakharo all echoed the words, Daenerys had to do her best to stiff a sigh. The Dothraki were set in their ways, if they thought that what you were doing was wrong then they would say and they had said so often when it came to Dany.

She was the first Khaleesi to rule a Khalasar, asking them to trust her and to follow her required a great deal of trust on their part and if they had not seen her walk into that fire survive and come out the other side with three baby dragons then she doubted that they would have followed her anywhere.

"Perhaps it is known, but this not about us blood of my blood. Do you think I would send you away? Do you think I enjoy the thought of it anymore than you do? I do not. But the Khalasar must know what dangers lie ahead and where we might go, so that we can leave this dry waste behind us. I ask that you do this for me." She then straightened her back, Viserys and Illyrio always told her that was how a queen stood. "Do not make me make it a command." She prayed her voice sounded stronger than she felt.

Her three bloodriders glanced at one another for a moment before Jhogo took his coiled whip and laid it at her feet before he kneeled in front of her, his head bowed and his long dark braid touched the ground. "Blood of my blood, I will do as you ask. As in all things."

Rakharo followed soon after him, laying his curved sword at her feet as he knelt down next to Jhogo. Aggo followed soon after them but Daenerys noticed that there was a longer pause when he kneeled, though he still placed his bow at her feet. She made a gesture for them to rise and reclaim their weapons and then turned and gestured for them to follow her.

They arrived back at the ruins of the gates to find that Ser Jorah had gathered the outriders, she strode forward and turned to face the five men who stood before her. "You have followed me to this place, I know that has not been easy for any of you. I will not say that it has been easy for me as that would be a lie."

"I have lead you into this waste, I am more than certain that many of you thought that I was mad. I have often thought that I was mad. Where I come from they say that my family has always danced too close to madness, they said that times whether a Targaryen would be mad or a genius would depend on the flip of a coin."

She decided not to mention exactly why her line was so tainted with madness, she had never seen the Dothraki dealing with incest before but she decided that it was safer to go with the assumption that didn't already know about her line and how it was founded rather than risk everything.

Of course she was the blood of Old Valyria and all men knew something of the freehold and it's dragons, the Dothraki knew of them but she didn't know if they knew they had wed brother to sister.

"I don't know how the coin landed with me, that thought had terrified me. But what I do know now, is that if we look back then we are lost. We must keep going, we are regaining our strength as we stay here but we must know what lies ahead of us if we are to move forward."

"Jhogo, who is blood of my blood, I would ask that you take two of the outriders and ride to the north. Look for cities, look for lakes and rivers and towns. If you meet traders, speak with them so we might learn where a port might be."

"Rakharo, who is blood of my blood, take two more outriders and ride to the east and Aggo, who is blood of my blood, ride to the south with this final outrider and look for all the things that I have spoken of and return and tell us what you have found."

All of the men nodded and began to saddle their horses, as Daenerys watched them Jorah came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder before he lead her away. "Your grace, I do not think that it is wise to send your bloodriders away. They are the only true warriors that you have, aside from me."

"I know, but it is safer if they do not travel alone. My outriders will need protection and as you say it is unlikely that anyone will come looking for us hear, and even less likely that anyone will stumble upon us." Her words did not seem to sooth her bear much but they were all the words that she had for him.

She reached out with her hand and cupped his cheek. "I have a task for you, I would like you to take over the training of the boys while my bloodriders are gone. Teach them how the men of Westeros fight so they might be ready to deal with them when the time comes."

"Very well, your grace. But without armour they are at a disadvantage."

"Just do what you can, that's all I ask." And with those last words Daenerys turned to continue to watch as her riders prepared.

They almost seemed to be ready too soon and they began to ride out of the gate, Daenerys stood watching them as they went, all of them turning into featureless outlines as they rode towards the horizon. When she could no longer see any of them she let out a heavy sigh.

She could only hope that she made the right choice.

End of Chapter Two.

* * *

 **Sorry that this took a little while to get back too but I hope everyone enjoyed it, I know that at the moment the changes to canon seem subtle but I promise we will get there as you can probably call this fic a slow burn.**

 **As always, constructive criticism is welcome and wanted and please favourite and follow in you enjoyed.**

 **Love,**

 **Doctorwhofan12345**


	3. Chapter 3

City of Dragons

Chapter Three.

The sun was beating down even heavier on the city of bones than it had been the day before and Daenerys Stormborn, though she knew that she should be boiling hot, felt only cold. The cold of fear, thought it had only been a day and a half since she had sent her bloodriders out into the Red Waste, she had the feeling deep inside her that she would not be seeing any of them again.

She tried to tell herself that she was simply being foolish, allowing the fears of a little girl to cloud her judgement but she found that she could not stop the fear from growing and growing within her. Each hour she expected them to return with news of what they had found but they had not returned yet, she wondered if she had sent them all to their deaths.

She supposed that it was good practice, she was a queen after all and if she ever wanted to sit on her throne then she would have to get used to sending men to their deaths, the Usurper would not give her throne after all and according to what Viserys had always told her the man had a bloodlust, the stories of him smiling and laughing at the mauled bodies of the children of her brother Rhaegar and Elia of Dorne, of how cold Ned Stark had simply called them Dragonspawn and how Lord Tywin had done it simply to ensure his own survival.

She would see that they all paid for it, they had taken her brother's throne and with that they had taken the brother she might have had as well, wanting the throne back, wanting to go home as badly as Viserys had done had ruined him, he had begged and pleaded and demanded when he had no power to do so.

He had gotten a crown in the end, not the one he had wanted and getting it had destroyed him just like she had always known that would happen. She hadn't wept for him, she had no tears left to shed for him. The fear of him that he had instilled into her had dried them up a long time ago. Though even now, she could not deny that she still grieved for the boy that her brother had been or the man that he might have been.

She wondered what Viserys would have been like if they had never been force to run their entire lives from the blades of the usurper, what their lives would have been like if they had never been forced to flee from Westeros. If she had been raised as a true princess in the Red Keep, if Rhaegar had ruled as king and Viserys had none of the duties and expectations forced on to him, the survival of their family.

She shook her head, it would do no good to look back on what might have been. The usurper had bested Rhaegar on the Trident and Viserys was just as dead as he was and if Dany looked back then she was lost, she could not have any doubts. Daenerys suddenly felt tired and so she set herself down in the shade of a fig tree and laid down with her almost completely bare head resting against the warm ground, slowly baking in the sun.

Irri asked if she wanted her to fetch her something to drink or if she wanted to help her inside but Daenerys dismissed, she just wanted to lay here for a moment and in peace to just forget her problems. She didn't know exactly how long she had been laying there in the shade when she felt the heavy weight of sleep pulling her eyelids down but she knew that she was too tired to fight and soon she was consumed by darkness.

She soon found herself standing in front of the Iron Throne, a twisted monstrosity that did not look like it could or should be sat on at all. Thin wisps of smoke drifted up from the burnt metal that made up the chair, and every point, every barb was covered in blood that dripped down to the floor. The throne seemed almost like it was standing on a dais made of blood.

Dany wanted to leave and never look at it again, she found herself being pulled away. She was standing in a cold, dim chamber where the only light came from a few dim candles whose flames feebly danced in the wind. Daenerys was standing in front of a large table that had been carved and painted to look like Westeros, her fingers reached out to brush it's surface but no matter how hard she tried to reach it the table seemed to slip further and further away from her.

She was flying then, she watched as far below a wall made of ice over grown with vines and blues flowers slipped away beneath her, she passed over a wolf den, smoking rising up from the middle of it and the mournful cries of a mother wolf who had lost her mate, echoing in her ears as she flew by. She passed over a ruin overgrown with vines and over a large marsh with flowers as tall as a man.

She flew further and further south, she flew over large rivers that ran red with bright blood, she flew over dozens of castles and keeps of different sizes until she finally reached where she was going, where she had always been going for as long as she could remember. A city built on three hills, shining in the light of the sun going down.

Daenerys opened her great jaws and breathed flame down on to it, screams of tiny people below rose up to greet her and she found that they irritated her. She breathed more flaming, bathing all below her and they were so very far below her. She bathed the great keep in flames even as a giant clad in shining weight with a helm covering his face and black ichor leaking from the slit in his visor came to greet her.

A giant was no match for a dragon and it could not stand against her as she bathed it in flame, armour melting as easily as flesh due to the heat of her flames, as the giant, rotting inferno fell to the ground with a thunderous crash and wild and mangy dogs crawled out of the slums to chew on it's bones, Daenerys's turned her attention back on to the Red Keep itself, burning it and burning it until all that remained was ashes and blackened walls, only the iron throne was left standing in the ruins.

She flew away from the ruin, shrieking her victory and her delight as she did so. She let her fire breath consume the city below her as she flew to the other hill, a great building stood atop it with seven crystal towers all around it. She did not stop to think and she opened her great maw and let fire rush out of her mouth and watched as it consumed the entire building, the crystals catching the light of her flames and sending a dozen different colours flying in every direction.

Violet. Blue. Red. Orange and Green. So much green everywhere, it drowned out all of the colours no matter where she happened to look, soon, no matter where she flew or how fast. All she saw where ever she looked was that horrible, sickening green.

That was when she woke up, jolting up and look at either side of her and causing Irri and Jhiqui to fall backwards. "Khaleesi? Are you alright? You would not wake no matter how much we tried, you were squirming and making strange noises in your sleep. We about to go and fetch your bear knight before you woke." Irri explained as her slender brown fingers reached out and stroked through Daenerys's silver hair.

"No, no. Irri, I'm fine don't worry." She spoke quietly as her eyes slid shut as she allowed herself to enjoy tender movements for a moment. "I just had a strange dream, that was all. My throat is parched however, Jhiqui, would you please go and find me something to drink?" The girl nodded and stood up before running off while Irri stayed with Daenerys, soothing her as best she could.

"Are the blood of my blood back yet?" Daenerys asked quietly after she had taken a sip of the cup of fig juice that Jhiqui had brought to her, she had to admit that she was getting quiet sick of figs now but she couldn't complain as it was all that they had and they were alive because of finding the trees. She just wished they had something to break up the diet, they didn't have enough horses left to slaughter any for meat and Dany did not even like horse meat but she would have it right now if it was available.

She was suddenly caught in a memory of when she, Doreah Irri, Jhiqui, and her bloodriders when they had only been her khas and assigned to protect her by Khal Drogo walking with her through the Western Market of Vaes Dothrak, eating those spiced sausages made of horsemeat and giggling like little girls as they watched her kos trying to prove who could eat the most.

It had seemed oh so very long ago now, Doreah, Quaro, Viserys and even Drogo were all dead now, she had been a little girl back then and now she had to be a queen. She forced them back into her mind. there she would let all of them rot until she could not remember them ever again. If she looked back then she was lost.

"No Khaleesi, none of them have returned yet." Jhiqui said as she sat down in the sand, her eyes trying desperately to try to hide the worry and the hurt inside of them and Dany watched as the same emotions were mirrored inside of Irri's eyes. It didn't come as a surprise to her, for as long as they had been serving as her handmaidens they had been spending a great deal of time around Aggo, Jhogo and Rakharo and thus it was only natural that they had grown fond of them in that time.

Daenerys had grown fond of them as well and the thought that she had sent them to die out in the wastes along with the outriders she had sent with them gnawed in her stomach like a rat. It did not sooth her mind to think on what Ser Jorah was always quick to remind her, that she had sent away a great part of their fighting men.

Ser Jorah was still with her as was the old mercy man Rommo but they were the closest she had to trained warriors, Ser Jorah had continued to train the boys of her Khalasar as she had asked of him but he had run into a problem in that he was trained to fight in Westeros and as a knight while the young of the Dothraki were expected too fight in an entirely different way and thus were not used to the change in technique.

The only good news that Ser Jorah had relayed to her was that thankfully all of the boys knew how to shoot a bow, Irri had once told her that all Dothraki boys learned how to use a bow from horseback from as young as eight. If worse came to worse and the city did come under siege then they could shove bows into their arms and make them man the walls so they would not be completely undefended if they were attacked.

Of course the Dothraki were used to firing their arrows from horse back and not on foot and not from on top of walls and Ser Jorah had made it plain that while they would be defended if they came under siege he doubted that it would be enough to throw any attackers back. Dany consoled herself by thinking that even if her bloodriders and outriders were there they probably wouldn't make much of a difference.

The thought had did little to make her feel better but at least they were unlikely to suffer a siege at the very least, unless someone desperately wanted figs there was nothing else here that was worth anything. The city had been sacked and anything that had been of any worth had long since been taken away. Of course, another problem was that the gate of the city had already been broken by the last time it had been sacked.

She had ordered that the gate be fixed but how exactly was something of another problem, the only wood was the fig trees and they needed those more than anything else at the moment. Even if they did have any other wood that they could use to fix the gates they didn't have any tools. So far they had settled for piling large white stones that had broken from the walls and arranged them in front of the gate and around the walls of the city, only a narrow opening in between the stones in front of the gates so they could get through it, but even to someone who knew little of siege craft like herself it didn't look like a defence, it looked like a line of salt when she looked down from it the walls.

Still, at least for the moment it was the best that they could do. And it was important that she kept them doing something, the Dothraki got restless easily. Sooner or later they would want to move on. The problem was none of them knew where they could move on too, Jorah spoke of ports but he had never travelled this far east before and he did not have any maps with him with which to guide them, Daenerys had only chosen to come this way because they had no other choices that they could take.

Once again, she wondered if her choice had lead them all to their deaths. She could show no doubt of course, not for a single moment. And so she let out a sigh and cupped both of her handmaiden's faces. "I am sure that they are well, they are brave and strong all of them. Any day now they shall return, I am more sure of that than I have ever been."

But they did not return the next day, nor did they return the one after that, or the one after that or the one after that. More than once she had laid awake in her bed in the manse she had claimed and listen as Jhiqui and Irri both pretended to cry silently, every whimper like a dagger being driven into her heart. But that pain was nothing when she thought of her bloodriders, out there in the wastes, her outriders with them as well.

She thought of them dying from thirst or from the heat or from the bite of a snake or the sting of a manticore and that felt like someone had reached into her chest and ripped her heart out of it and showed it to her. They had only gone out into the wastes because she had commanded it, if they were dead then it was because she had sent them off to their deaths.

She wasn't sure what she would do if they didn't come back, they wouldn't survive going further into the Red Wastes without any guides who knew where any rivers or other cities were and they could not go back the way they came, even if they did survive the journey the first Khal that came across her would either kill her or drag her back to Vaes Dothrak.

Staying where they were, it seemed, was the best option.

At one point, late at night when she could not sleep and her handmaidens had fallen asleep, she found herself wondering what they could do to make the city at least a little more bearable. There were wells and though the water was warm it was clean enough, it occurred to her that they could possibly dig cannels to divert the water to a field to plant crops.

The problem was that she wasn't certain if they could dig that far down and if they could she didn't want to risk ruining one of their only sources of water. Another problem was that the Dothraki were not a people that grew much of anything, they slaughtered horses and lambs for meat and when the horde made camp they would find roots and berries to season the meat but they didn't grow any of it, they had no seeds.

And sadly she didn't know what exactly they could even grow in the dry, dusty ground of the Red Wastes. She knew that things could grow as the fig trees had grown strongly and rapidly and they certainly had a large collection of fig seeds lying about. Sadly trees took a long time indeed to grow and even if by some miracle the trees would grew overnight, she wasn't sure they would survive on just fruit.

They would not starve but that wasn't what she was thinking off, she was not sure that the Khalasar would stand by her if all she could wind up offering them for their pains was fruit from trees a few years in the future. Once again she was lamenting sending her bloodriders away from her, Aggo, Jhogo and Rakharo has sworn themselves to her, to protect her and fight by her side. If she died then they would hunt down who had killed her before casting off their lives, she had no doubt that she could trust them.

And she had sent them away. Ser Jorah loved her, she had no doubts to that but she could tell that he still had doubts about all of this. He had lain his sword at her feet, had declared himself blood of her blood and had become the first of her queensguard. But she wasn't truly sure if she could trust him, he had saved her and Rhaego from that wine merchant's poisoned gift and she had not forgotten that.

But often as she sat in her room, watching as the candle's flame tried valiantly to not be blown out, she wondered how Ser Jorah had known about it. He had said that a letter had come with a trader's caravan from Magister Illyrio about an attempt on her life and that had made him suspicious. But how he had he known, it seemed so unlikely that just as he received a letter that warned him of an attempt that she would be in danger that he happened to stop a poisoning attempt on her, it seemed so unlikely.

She had sighed then and wondered if she had been going mad, they had called her father mad, once. Viserys had always said that it was a lie put about by the Usurper and his supporters to try and sway them to siding with them. It was easier to rebel against a madman who was cruel to the lowfolk then it was usurp a rightful king from his throne.

That night she had wondered if there had been a grain of truth in what had been said about her father, had this been how he had started to descend into madness? By question those closest to him, forever wondering about their loyalties. Seeing secret plots in every shadow and always waiting for a knife to be planted into her back.

She had blown out the candle flame then and had let herself sit in the darkness.

The only things that had brought her anything close to joy in those days had been her children, her three dragons. She had been concerned for them for such a long time as they had refused to eat anything that was offered to them until they learned about charring their food black. They had grown, not by much and they were still far to small to ride, or even to fly properly yet but seeing how they had grown had pleased her.

But not as much as when she had finally watched as Drogon had creped forward towards the tiny piece of raw meat that she had placed in front of him and had opened his tiny jaws to let out a stream of fire, in moments the meat had been blackened and the black dragon had devoured it in a matter of moments. Her other children had not quiet reached, Rhaegal had just managed a few thin streams of fire and Viserion had only managed a few single puffs of steam but she wasn't too concerned, he would get there in time.

Of that she had no doubt, when given enough food and open space, a dragon never stopped growing. She remembered all the stories that Viserys had told her about their family's dragons. He had memorised all of their names and the names of all the Targaryen's who had ridden them. As she looked down at Drogon she remembered all the stories of another dragon that had colouring exactly like this, just like this.

The thought of riding Baelerion the Black Dread come again was indeed an exciting one, she could not deny that. Sadly, she doubted that they had enough meat for any of her dragons to grow so larger that there shadows would cover entire towns in darkness nor be able to swallow entire mammoths from the wild North whole. It did suddenly occur to her then that while they wouldn't grow that big on what they had they would get bigger, so big in fact that they would certainly be needing more and more meat to eat.

What would she do then, would she need to select a horse every now and then and have that slaughter for her dragons to eat? What about when the grew larger, would they need to eat more and be less inclined to share with one another? Would she need to slaughter a single horse for each of them, they had so few strong steeds left and the Dothraki would not like it. She could ration them of course but she needed her dragons to be grown if she wanted a chance in taking Westeros.

And how would they react if she didn't feed them when they wanted food? Dragons were dangerous, that was the whole point of them. What if they attacked someone and ate them? What would she do then? Her head felt oh so heavy and all she wanted to do was go back to sleep, all she wanted was to be back in the House with the Red Door and for sweet old Ser Willem Darry to be alive again.

It had been close too a fortnight since her bloodriders were gone and she has resigned herself to the fact that all three of them and the outriders were all dead, they had given them all water and food but it would be almost completely gone by now and if they were lost in the Wastes then there was nothing that could be done for them.

The young boys of the Khalasar's training had continued out, she had decided that it was for the best if Rommo joined in with helping Ser Jorah to train the boys as they weren't responding well to her knight's methods. Rommo had decreed that Ser Jorah's techniques with the bow that he had been showing them were adequate but that there Khaleesi need more than for them to be adequate, she needed them to be true warriors of the plains.

She wanted to interrupt him and say that while that might be what she needed it wasn't what she wanted, most of those boys were younger than she was. The thought of sending them to fight and die for her did not sit at all well with her. She did not interrupt and watched from the balcony of the manse as the young Dothraki took turns firing at a target, a wooden bucket atop a low wall that had eyes and a thin line for a mouth painted in the juice from the figs.

All of them managed to hit it without any difficulty, it was an actually an easy target to hit. Each time one of them hit it they would take their arrow back and allowed someone else to take their shot as well. Rommo wanted to use a moving target as well but Dany had forbidden it as they couldn't afford to waste any of their horses, not even one.

She was watching as they move on to training with whips when Ser Jorah came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder, he had a look that Daenerys could not understand. It looked anxious and yet relived as well, she would take him looking like this then she would him looking as though he was angry with her. "My queen, I must ask that you come with me now. Aggo and the outrider you sent with him have returned."

For a moment Dany had to wonder if she was dreaming, it would not be the first time that she had a dream like this one. More often it would be that all three of her bloodriders and all the outriders she had sent with them, all of them looking even better than when they had left the city. In her dreams they would have found a city, near to the sea with waters as blue as a sapphire. The city itself would be abandoned but there would be food in every home, the walls would be surrounded with grass and over flowing with food that had been grown in them. And outside the cities walls, in the harbour, there would be a thousand ships waiting to carry them across the sea, more than they needed.

Sadly, neither Aggo nor the outriders had looked like they had just left the city nor was she going to guess that they had found a miraculous city waiting for them in the sands. Aggo's face was thinner and Daenerys was certain that could make out the bones in his face, he had always been a lean man but now even the small count of muscle that had in his chest was gone and the painted vest that he had worn was practically hanging off of him. The outrider was not in much better straights either.

As soon as she saw Aggo she ordered both of her handmaidens to go and find some food and whatever the could find to drink, both girls scrambled to obey her command as she approached her bloodrider. "Blood of my Blood, I am glad to see that you have returned to me. What news do you bring?"

"Khaleesi, we went as far south as we could go before we could go no father into the wastes, this is a dead and cursed land. I saw no rivers or other cities." Aggo seemed to be both angry and tired and Dany was certain that she could see frustration brewing in his dark eyes. "But, we did find something but I am not sure of how much use it will be to you. We found a dragon's skeleton, I swear it to be so. It's skull was so big that you could ride through it's mouth while sitting and not needing to bow your head."

One of the outriders brought a large sack over to them and held it open, she looked in to it and her eyes widened when she saw several bones that were as black as iron. She reached in and pulled out a curved bone, the weight of it surprised her and she very nearly tipped her over but Aggo was quicker and shot out to stop her from falling.

She stood back up with what little dignity that she could muster and brushed a thumb over the bone, she knew that bows could be made of dragonbone and they were believed to even more flexible and capable of shooting arrows further than any over kind of bow in the world, even the goldenwood bows of the Summer Islands could not hope to match it.

She was certain that there were other uses for the bone as well, she was certain that she had read somewhere that the Valyrian's had used Dragonbone to make armour that was both light and strong. Sadly, that art had been lost when the Doom had came to Valyria, it was a shame cause she imagined that sort of armour might be perfect for the Dothraki.

Still if they could find a way to make the bone into bows, well, she could think of worse things than having every single one of her fighters having a dragonbone bow. She placed the bone back into the bag and thanked Aggo with a smile, Irri and Jhiqui then came running up to them. In Irri's hands was a platter that had been filled with fruit, mostly figs she noticed, and Jhiqui had a skin that Dany was going to assume was filled with fermented mare's milk, there hadn't been a lot it left.

She had dismissed Aggo and the outrider from her presence and the two men went to sit down in the centre of a circle that had formed, it was clear that the rest of her horde wished to hear the story and what had taken them so long. Dany was still overjoyed to know that Aggo had returned so she decided to go inside and take a bath, she had been so down lately that the thought of doing it had slipped out of her mind and given the heat she had to imagine that she was staring to stink, if anyone noticed then she assumed no one minded.

Though to be fair, it wasn't as though anyone else exactly smelt like a room filled with roses.

More good news came to her after she had finished her bath, Jhogo had returned. She had herself dressed in a dress of sheer violet silk but she kept her painted vest over it, when she reached Jhogo and his outriders she was happy to see that all of them looked better than Aggo had done. The sun had burnt their copper skin to a darker shade than it had been before, when he saw her Jhogo smiled and knelt, taking his whip from his hip and laying it at her feet. "Blood of my Blood."

"Blood of my Blood." Dany responded in greeting, she gestured for him to take his whip back and then to stand up. Once Jhogo was back on to his feet, Dany spoke. "What news do you have to bring from the North?"

"Little of good news Khaleesi, we found two cities but the both of them were abandoned. One was warded with skulls, we dare not enter them. Evil sprits would be waiting for us inside. It is known. The other was just as dead as the first, but we did not have much time to look inside before a sand storm blew upon us, this is what we found." Jhogo held up an iron bracelet and Dany had to admit that she was disappointed but she said nothing as she reached out to take it.

They would have to go back to both of the cities before too long, she would need to see what was truly of value inside of them. It would not be easy as while she was certain that her Khalasar would follow her, or at least as certain as she could be, it wasn't going to be easy to get them to go into the first city that was warded with Dothraki clung on tightly to what they knew, more than anything else. They knew that warding with skulls meant evil sprits dwelt within and nothing would convince them to go inside.

But they also knew that a woman did not lead a Khalasar, not on her own at the very least. And they also knew that a woman burned when she stepped into fire and that all the dragons were dead and gone from this world. She had proved them wrong on all three counts once and she would do it again a fourth time if she had to.

With both Aggo and Jhogo returned and with all the outriders she had sent with them as well, the mood in the city of bones that night was a cheerful one. Fires had been light and there was dancing and Daenerys even allowed herself to have a mouthful of fermented mare's milk. It was as terrible as she remembered it being but it also tasted like being alive.

When she crawled into her bed that night, Irri and Jhiqui at either side of her, she convinced herself that she would be waken up in the middle of the night with the news that Rakharo had returned as well.

But no news had came that night, nor the night after that or the night after that. Soon the good mood that had infested the city started to dim as the days that Rakharo and the outriders she had sent with him had been gone ticked away until finally an entire moon had passed and still, none of them had been sighted. Many times over those days that seemed to pass both slowly and quickly at the same time, Dany had listened to Irri as she cried into both her and Jhiqui's arms. It wasn't a surprise, she had know that Irri was fond of the man and they were the closest in age.

To try and cheer her up Dany had sat with her in the garden of the manse, Irri's head in her lap as she read to her from the book of stories that Ser Jorah had given to her at her wedding to Khal Drogo. She had been reading to her about the story of Brave Danny Flint, more a song than a story but it was in the book regardless, when suddenly Ser Jorah himself came running up to her. "Khaleesi, I need you come and I need you to come now."

"What is the matter Ser?" She asked as she got to her feet. Irri pushing herself into sitting up. "Has Rakharo returned?"

Ser Jorah looked hesitant to answer the question but after a moment he spoke. "Yes my queen, he has returned but I am afraid that it is a complicated situation. Please come with me."

Dany frowned and held up her hand to gesture to Irri to stay where she was, she didn't seem happy with that decision but she stayed where she was as Daenerys followed Jorah through the streets of her city. They were approaching the gates but Jorah took a sudden turn that confused her and she nearly kept walking on tot the gates, still she managed to follow him until she reached the carved stairs that would take them up to the battlements, as they ascended Daenerys felt a feeling of dread settling in her gut.

That feeling only grew stronger when she saw several of her men, lead by Aggo, near the ruined gates pointing their bows with several arrows ready to be loosed at something she could not see. Dany broke from Ser Jorah and rushed over so they could see what had caused the alarm, it couldn't be a Khalasar as Khal wouldn't wait and would not be dissuaded by a few men with bows on walls, and when he saw the gate was broken open he was have his horde ride straight through it, paying no attention to their tiny barrier.

It wasn't a khal and his Khalasar, it was a tiny party made up of three men and a woman. the two men were unknown to her but one looked like a skeleton that had skin like old parchment stretched over his bones with lips so blue they were almost black, the other man had skin that was pale as milk and what looked like metal shoved into his nose, the other man was Rakharo and her heart swelled with joy to see him alive though she could not deny that it didn't last long when she noticed that he was the only one who had returned, there was no sign of the outriders she had sent with him.

The woman was the strangest of them all, it seemed to her. She wore a lacquered mask of wood and Daenerys could only just make out her eyes from the tiny holes. The sight of her caused a feeling of terror and mistrust to unfold in her.

"Who are you. and why are you here?" She asked, hoping her voice sounded stronger than she felt at the moment.

"Khaleesi." Rakharo answered. "I have journey as you have asked me too and brought back these guests from the great city of Qarth, Xaro Xhoan Daxos of the thirteen, Pyat Pree of the Warlock's guild and Quaithe of the Shadow, all have asked to look upon your beauty."

"We have come to seek the Mother of Dragons." The woman in the mask spoke and Daenerys glanced between Ser Jorah and Aggo for a moment as she considered what to do. There were only three of them, if she had her men fire then she would no doubt kill them all but surely they would have told others where they were going and they could not survive a war.

With a heavy breath and a force smile, she spoke. "Please, come in and be welcome in my city."

End of Chapter Three.

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